The Imo State Police Command has announced the arrest of suspected killers of Major General Richard Duru (rtd).
The Police operatives also recovered 552 live rounds of ammunition from the suspects.
Briefing journalists at the Police Command headquarters in Owerri, the State capital, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), ASP Henry Okoye, on behalf of the Commissioner of Police, CP Aboki Danjuma, stated that the successful outcome of the arrest was a result of the proactive operational strategies adopted by the men and officers of the Command in the fight against violent crimes and other related offences in the state.
He said that one of the breakthroughs recorded by the Command was the arrest of killers of Major General Duru (Rtd), who was said to have been kidnapped along Bishops Court, Area 7, Orji/Uratta, Owerri, in his black Mercedes Benz car but was later killed after the payment of $50,000 ransom by his family.
The PPRO further informed that the arrest of the killers of the retired Army General was carried out by the operatives of Anti-Kidnapping Unit of the Police Command through a sustained follow-up of intelligence gathering that led to the apprehension of the gang leader and other members of the terror group.
He explained further that his arrest led to the arrest of the other two of the gang, Okoroigwe Goodness and Innocent Ogu, and they all confessed to the crime.
SP Okoye maintained that over the past two months, the Command had recorded significant achievements in the onslaught against crime and criminality in the state, resulting in the arrest of 435 suspects for various criminal offences ranging from murder, kidnapping, armed robbery, terrorism, advance fee fraud, cultism activities, stealing and receiving stolen properties.
“A total of 48 different firearms and 552 various calibers of live ammunition were recovered in the course of intelligence-led operations, continuous raids of suspected criminal hideouts, and painstaking investigations during which 13 kidnapped victims were rescued unhurt and 10 snatched vehicles were recovered,” the PPRO stated.
